Emmen

Jewish traders settled in the peat-cutting
settlement of Emmen in about 1840. At first, they were included in
the Jewish community of the nearby town Coevorden but their numbers grew so quickly
that in 1876 they were recognized as an independent community in
their own right.

A synagogue was consecrated on the Julianastraat in Emmen in 1878
and was enlarged several times over the decades that followed. From
1885 until 1915 the community buried its dead in a cemetery of
located on the Oranjekanaal in the direction of Westeres. In 1915,
the community opened a new cemetery directly behind the synagogue.
The Emmen community maintained a religious school, a study
fellowship for men, and a women's society for the care of the
interior of the synagogue. A local Jewish theater group was active
during the 1920's.

During the early years of the community, most of the Jews of Emmen
were traders who dealt with local farmers. Later, some became
shopkeepers, with a number eventually owning stores on the Emmen's
main shopping street. Economic conditions, however, were not ideal
and by the outset of the twentieth century twenty percent of the
Jews of Emmen were dependent on charity.

During the
Second World War, the same anti-Jewish measures were applied in
Emmen as elsewhere in the Netherlands. The majority of the local
Jews were deported in 1942 and were subsequently murdered in Nazi
death camps. Only a few dozen managed to survive the war in hiding.
The synagogue was used by the Germans as a warehouse for
possessions seized from local Jews and came through the war
undamaged.

After the war, a small Jewish community was established anew in
Emmen. The synagogue was sold to the municipality for a token sum
in 1974 and was restored in 1975 and again in 1994. The building is
still used occasionally for religious services by the Jewish
community of the province of Drenthe. Two plaques mounted inside
the synagogue contain the names of local Jews murdered during the
war. A monument to their memory was unveiled near the synagogue on
the Julianastraat in 2000. On the Jewish Day of Atonement of the
very same year the synagogue was severely damaged by a bomb attack.
The damage was repaired and the synagogue re-consecrated in
2001.

Nieuw-Amsterdam-Veenoord
From 1899 on, the nearby twin village of Nieuw-Amsterdam-Veenoord
boasted a synagogue of its own. The community also had its own
cemetery, located on the Boerdijk. Despite having their own
synagogue and cemetery, and regardless of their repeated
applications, the Jews of Nieuw-Amsterdam (Veenoord) were never
recognized as an independent community.

The cemetery at Nieuw-Amsterdam-Veenoord is today maintained by
the municipality of Sleen.